Archive for August 2011

With more and more jobs being advertised online, putting your CV on an online jobs board is one of the most effective ways to find a new job. In fact, its a no brainer! There is such an online explosion in the recruitment industry that NOT being on a jobs board is a bit like trying to fish in a lake without water.

But how do you get the best from the jobs boards?

1. Understand the service

A jobs board is a bit like a huge pond full of fish, where recruiters and employers try to find job seekers who have the skills and experience they need to fulfill their needs. In line with UK employment legislation, the job seekers get a free service and the searchers have to pay. On most boards, you can both register your CV and also apply to get free job alerts. This means you will get an email whenever a job that matches your criteria is posted onto the jobs board, making it easier for you to apply.

Employers and recruiters subscribe to the jobs board and pay to not only post jobs, but also the search the databases for candidates. Just like searching on Google, the results of a jobs board search appear in ranked order. The person searching for candidates will pop in some keywords and search criteria, and the search engine will deliver a list of results with those that most conform to the criteria at the top of the search. So it makes sense that if you want to be at the top of the list, you have to use the search criteria in your CV.

2. Optimise your key words

So this breaks the common rules of CV writing a bit. But after all, you can always improve the look and feel of your CV to actually send to the employer! The main purpose of this particular CV is to be found on the database and to appear as high as possible in the rankings so the recruiter can read it first.

Optimising means that you have to anticipate what the searcher is going to be looking for. It’s not that difficult: Use common keywords like the name of your industry, the job title, the systems you use, the products you sell, and so on in your CV. Its surprising, for example, how many people work in the automotive industry but never use that word in their CV, not even once!

Then extend your key words to include derivatives. For example, use both Independent Aftermarket and IAM. Or for technical terms: Include both FEAD and Front End Auxiliary Drive. This does seem like overstatement, however the anticipation is that the person inputting the search might not actually understand the meaning of the terms, or even know that there are acronyms that are industry jargon.

3. Don’t be afraid to name drop!

If you work in a specific industry or specialist area, name the brands or products. For example, a candidate who states that he has experience of “selling Bosch engine diagnostic tools and equipment to the garage / automotive trade” will have higher returns in searches than those who purely put “Sales of automotive tools”. Often, these trade names become incorporated in industry specific language (Think of Hoover!). You will know what is relevant to your industry – Use it!

4. Use the tick boxes sensibly

To make the search easier, most jobs boards ask candidates to tick boxes to show their preferences (Location, salary, industry, permanent or temporary, etc). Be careful of being too specific here, as it might discount you in searches but don’t be so broad that you appear in every single search. Just consider your true expectations and reflect these in the boxes that you tick because this will be used to filter the searches.

5. If you’ve got it, flaunt it!

Of course your CV should reflect your skills, experience, qualifications and achievements. But the language and actual words you use to describe these will make the difference between floating to the top of the database search results, or being left at the bottom of the pool. The lesson here being, if you’ve got it, flaunt it!

And don’t be afraid to state the obvious either – If you leave something for assumption, the likelihood is that the assumption will be wrong because you don’t know who is doing the search!

I am very excited about being invited by the Guardian newspaper to be part of an expert panel on their Career website on Wednesday 17th August.

The main subject of the webcast will be Recruitment Consultants, how to deal with them, what to expect from them and, ultimately, how to get the best out of them.

I often meet job applicants who are totally disillusioned by the job hunting scene. People who feel that no one cares to listen to their problems, nobody responds back to their job applications and there seems to be no interest in their plight to find a suitable job. And I am sure, regardless of how hard I try personally to deal with my own candidates, thatsome of them too might be fed up by trickling information streams and a lack of suitable positions.

I am always very upfront with candidates: I am not able to help everyone. If only I was Superwoman – I would flash my cape and jiggle mybelt and there would be jobs, feedback and opportunities for everyone. But the reality of today’s employment market and the continual commercialisation of the recruitment process means that having one brain and two hands seem to be a real limiting factor to us humans!

Listening to and participating in the Guardian Careers podcast might dispel some of the myths and give candidates real advice on how to best engage with the recruitment world.

This is a great opportunity to spearhead a new parts distribution strategy on behalf of a very well known premium Vehicle Manufacturer.

Our client is a very well known European vehicle manufacturer, with several well known premium marques in their stable. With a view to expanding and commercialising their dependent parts distribution strategy, they are looking for an experienced Marketing and Product management specialist to develop this further.

You will be responsible for managing parts product sales planning throughout product lifecycles, driving sales volume and revenue growth for every product channel, group or program. This will also include managing product positioning, taking into consideration price, discount, stock and margins. In addition, you will work very closely with the national parts sales team to ensure adequate marketing support in terms of special deals. This will include promotional activity to the dealer network.

The ideal candidate will have excellent presentation and communication skills, with the ability to manage several diverse projects simultaneously., Your commercial and product management skills will come from a parts related background, ideally from within a motor factor, distributor or components manufacturer. You will be an experienced Product Manager, with a good level of analytical ability, but you will also be comfortable in a sales based context.

If you are actively looking for a job, it makes sense to have your CV as current as possible. However, I often find that, when I speak to candidates, the CV’s posted online or used to apply to jobs are, in fact, sometimes well out of date! This means that, before your CV can be sent in to a job, it has to be brought up to date. Obviously, we have to supply a recruiting client with fresh information but more importantly, the information LEFT OUT of your CV might actually be the stuff that could get you the job. And wasting the time to get the updated details sorted out, might actually cost you dearly in terms of time. How disappointing if you are pipped to the post for the job of dreams because your CV was out of date ….

1. Starting and leaving dates

If you are made redundant, make sure the date when you left the last employment is on your CV. This makes it clear that you are immediately available, and also opens up opportunities for temporary or interim work. This will be overlooked by recruiters seeking people currently NOT employed; If you don’t have a leaving date on your last job, the assumption will be that you are still working.

2. Add your current activities

If you did suffer redundancy or left work for a different reason, mention this on your CV, with the dates. If it was a while ago, make it clear what you have been doing since. It is true that people who are gainfully occupied seem to do better in the recruitment stakes. If you mention nothing and your leaving date is not recent, the assumption might be that you have been twiddling your thumbs – Not a good impression to give those who are in control of selection processes! They are likely to choose people who show resilience, pro-activity and a willingness to work so mention what you have been doing and make it clear that this is just an interim solution until you find “proper” employment again.

3. Update targets, regions and figures

Any recent changes in your job should be reflected in your CV. This gives the recruiter an idea of exactly what your current skills are. This might also cast light on your reasons for looking to move on. If your role was restructured, point that out. Numbers are always a good idea in a CV anyway, so make sure they are fresh: For example, how many people you manage, how large your region is, how you are targeted, etc. This will give a clear picture of the context of your job and responsibility, as well as achievements.

4. Contact details

It seems illogical, but amazingly I often get CVs with out of date mobile numbers or email addresses. Worse are those that have no contact telephone numbers at all! There is no point in leaving your contact details off your CV, or not keeping them fresh. Under pressure, the recruiter will try once or twice and then move on to those candidates they can actually contact.

5. Courses and qualifications

Again, make sure that your CV contains all your qualifications. If you do any courses, these should be mentioned as well. It might give you an unexpected competitive advantage so add them in as soon as you have proof of obtaining the qualification. If the qualification is still in process, mention the anticipated finish date in your CV as well.

6. Update the jobs boards

When you upload a fresh CV onto an online database, it’s really important to check that the active online CV is your newest one. Delete old CVs to make sure that only your freshest information is on file. This means that only the freshest information will go out to prospective jobs, employers or recruiters.

Not actively job seeking?

Having a fresh CV is still very important. You can use it during your probationary or appraisal meetings to discuss your progress, or to apply for internal roles that will give you career progression. Or what if an unexpected headhunt call comes in offering you an opportunity that you might not have anticipated? Taking time to prepare a CV might lose you the opportunity!

The world of job hunting has totally changed in the recent past. 3 years ago, you would have bought the Thursday edition of a well-known daily newspaper to look for your next job. I bought the same paper a few weeks ago to prove this point to a recruiting client: There were less than 2 full pages of jobs! And those were mostly government contracts – A truly disappointing show, had I been desperate to find a commercial job for myself.

There is no doubt that the entire vacancy and recruitment advertising industry have made a fundamental shift to online several years ago. And the volumes of advertising response on online vacancies prove that the candidate market has twigged that fact – If you want a job, you must post your CV online. However, this market is rapidly becoming so oversubscribed that agencies and employers are now finding it difficult to deal with the sheer volume of responses and this in turn, has a knock on impact on time scales and cost. This is probably one of the reasons why job applicants become so frustrated with the lack of response from the recruitment industry. But the reality is that very few agencies have the resources to respond to every single application because the volumes are simply too large. For this reason, many online ads now carry disclaimers stating that only successful applicants will be contacted.

And as with all things online, the market is responding to these pressures by moving on!

Although the jobs boards will undoubtedly still be around for a long time, recruiters need to find a more ready resource pool of candidates – A source that is targeted, specific, cheap and easy to reach. So it makes sense that they would go to online networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (Amongst others) to find the people they need to fulfil the jobs they have.

Finding a new job is essentially about promoting yourself, your skills and abilities. It is, fundamentally, a sales and marketing exercise. So putting yourself in places where potential employers or recruiters can find you, is a sure-fire way of increasing your visibility and therefore, your chances of getting the job you want.

This means getting a full and up to date profile on LinkedIn, and making sure that your Facebook page does not contain pictures of drunken brawls or content that might detract from your personal brand. But most importantly, it means that you have to ENGAGE, ENGAGE, ENGAGE because that is what social media is all about.

If you sit waiting for something to happen, it most likely won’t. And as with everything in life, how much you put in is what you are likely to get out. And yes, it does take some time to deliver results.

However, if you want to find a job, career or employer spend your time wisely: Invest in building up a social media profile. It will be a sound investment, if you keep working at it!

Cathy Richardson

Cathy shares her views on life, job hunting and the UK recruitment industry. There may be a few references to yoga too! And mindfulness, stress management and cognitive behavioural approaches to making life easier and job hunting more successful. She will be very happy to hear your views on what she produces here!

Email Subscription

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.